GRAY – Programs are being offered locally to recognize that September is National Preparedness Month. This month’s Gray Region Citizen Corps seminar will focus on “Family Safety.”

The session will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 24, at Stimson Hall in the center of Gray village.

On hand at the seminar will be experts from the Northern New England Poison Control Center (1-800-222-1222) and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department. Residents are invited to bring the kids and ask questions about how to keep the home and family safe from everyday hazards, and what to do in the case of accidental poisoning.

The Citizen Corps also encourages local residents to answer a skills survey available in the lobby of the Gray Public Safety Building. It allows the information to be entered into its database. During a regional disaster such as the ice storm of 1998, residents can be contacted to help their neighbors. Volunteer skills are needed for tasks from delivering groceries to taking care of pets.

The corps volunteers provide monthly safety and emergency preparedness seminars, generally on the second Friday of the month.

Future seminars are planned for chainsaw safety and a new statewide volunteer program. More information about the federal Citizen Corps program may be found at www.citizencorps.gov.

The local group publishes a periodic electronic newsletter. Messages may be left with Gray Public Safety at 657-3931.